Binding of S mutans to 11-mer peptide motifs from the extracellular scavenger domains 1 through 9. Microtiter plates were coated with indicated peptides (40 μg/mL) and incubated with S mutans bacteria, and binding was quantified as described in “Solid-phase adhesion assay.” The combined means plus or minus SD from 3 independent experiments are shown. Statistics: 2-tailed Student t test.